Textbook Question

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jul 22, 2014

I would buy as few books as possible. They become obsolete so fast

NICU_Nightingale, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2014

The only one I kept was my A&P book for two reasons; 1. It spanned over two semesters for me cause I took I and II (which I'm sure you're doing too) and 2. I used it all the time as a reference for my first semester of nursing school. As for the rest of them I got rid of those things so quickly it was like they were never there. Good riddance to those classes haha.

I agree with the PP though by as few as possible. Mostly because I bought and kept all my books through nursing school and I use them all the time as references not only for class and studying but for all the papers I have to write. So save where you can!

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Jul 22, 2014

I would buy as few books as possible. They become obsolete so fast

I also agree with this statement. Go to ratemyprofessors.com to get a feel on whether or not you will need a book for a class. This has helped me substantially. Also, renting would be the best route, provided you take good notes for the future. I believe that you can learn anything on Google, books are, as classicdame said, becoming obsolete.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2014

Any "background" info--for example, information from your physiology text relevant to a chapter in a pharmacology lecture--is available online. You have to be careful what source(s) you use…I'm looking at you Wikipedia…and the format of the material may be different; but, it is all out there.

RunBabyRN · Jul 22, 2014

I never used any of my prereq books in nursing school. Sold them on half.

happynurse14 · Jul 22, 2014

Rent if you must. But you probably could do just find without them. I started out getting all of the recommended textbooks, found out very quickly that I could google most of the information.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2014

I must strongly disagree. All your prerequisites lead to what you will learn later. Unlike your high school classmates who are majoring in English, you cannot take the class, pass the exam, sell the book, forget it and move on.

Why not? Because you will be held responsible for having a good working knowledge of those micro, anatomy, physiology, and chemistry concepts as you go along.

We see students here all the time who get stuck with advanced med/surg because they don't remember anything about cardiovascular anatomy (example, the ones who think a clot in a vein will cause a stroke if it gets loose), or chemistry (what does diffusion mean, and why do we care?), or microbiology ("strep throat" is not shorthand for "a really bad sore throat"), or physiology (Help! I don't understand why I can't give my hyponatremic patient normal saline to make his Na+ go up!)

These people are all the ones who can't pull out their basic texts to refresh their faulty memories, and don't really remember or get what they need to look up when they hit Wikipedia or some other site, and as a result, they do poorly when they are held to increasingly higher standards as their nursing semesters build upon each other. And then they "freak out!!!!!!!!" when they study for NCLEX. Alas, the net is not the answer to everything (and I speak as someone who does a lot of internet research for my work).

Do not be that girl.

schnookimz · Jul 22, 2014

I must strongly disagree. All your prerequisites lead to what you will learn later. Unlike your high school classmates who are majoring in English, you cannot take the class, pass the exam, sell the book, forget it and move on.

Why not? Because you will be held responsible for having a good working knowledge of those micro, anatomy, physiology, and chemistry concepts as you go along.

We see students here all the time who get stuck with advanced med/surg because they don't remember anything about cardiovascular anatomy (example, the ones who think a clot in a vein will cause a stroke if it gets loose), or chemistry (what does diffusion mean, and why do we care?), or microbiology ("strep throat" is not shorthand for "a really bad sore throat"), or physiology (Help! I don't understand why I can't give my hyponatremic patient normal saline to make his Na+ go up!)

These people are all the ones who can't pull out their basic texts to refresh their faulty memories, and as a result, they do poorly when they are held to increasingly higher standards as their nursing semesters build upon each other. And then they "freak out!!!!!!!!" when they study for NCLEX.

Do not be that girl.

I agree, but you can pretty much google whatever you need to know for free rather than holding onto expensive books. There's excellent medical and nursing resources online if you know where to look!

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Jul 22, 2014

I agree, but you can pretty much google whatever you need to know for free rather than holding onto expensive books. There's excellent medical and nursing resources online if you know where to look!

I agree with this, especially due to the amount of apps you can find in the app store that are very useful when studying medicine or nursing, free or not. A $20 app may be just as helpful as a $200 book depending on the class.

katie_n · Jul 22, 2014

GrnTea,

My B.A. is in English, and that's part of why these text book prices are killing me. I'm used to paying like $80 for lit anthologies (all of which I have kept because I am a nerd). So looking at $265 for a chemistry book is a lot to stomach, and I'm sure it just gets worse!

katie_n · Jul 22, 2014

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. It looks like I can rent for about %50-%60 the cost of buying new, so I'm thinking that might be the best bet.